Nuclear hormone receptors (NHR's) constitute a large super-family of structurally-related and sequence-specific gene regulators scientists have named “ligand-dependent transcription factors.” R. M. Evans, Science, 240:889 (1988). The steroid binding NHR's (SB-NHR's) form a recognized subset of the NHR's, including the progesterone receptor (PR), androgen receptor (AR), estrogen receptor (ER), glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). The conventional nuclear hormone receptors are generally transactivators in the presence of ligand, which selectively bind to the NHR in a way that effects gene transcription. In the absence of a corresponding ligand, some of the orphan receptors behave as if they are transcriptionally inert. Others, however, behave as either constitutive activators or repressors. These orphan nuclear hormone receptors are either under the control of ubiquitous ligands that have not been identified, or do not need to bind ligand to exert these activities.
The AR is a ligand-activated transcriptional regulatory protein that mediates induction of male sexual development and function through its activity with endogenous androgens. In addition, androgens are associated with male and female maintenance of muscle mass and strength, bone mass and erythropoiesis. Androgens, such as testosterone, also play an important role in many physiological processes, such as differentiation of male internal and external genitalia, development and maintenance of male secondary sexual characteristics (e.g., the development of prostate, seminal vesicles, penis, scrotum, skeletal muscle, redistribution of body fat, stimulation of long bone growth, closure of epiphyses, development of male hair growth pattern and enlargement of larynx), the maintenance of sexual behavior and function (e.g., libido and potency) and spermatogenesis (in man).
As one ages, the serum androgen concentration in the body declines. The age dependent decline in androgens is associated with changes in body composition for men and women, such as a lower percentage of muscle mass and an increase in body fat, e.g., sarcopenia. In this regard, modulation of the AR gene can have an impact on the physiological effects associated with androgen production. However, the effectiveness of known modulators of steroid receptors is often tempered by their undesired side-effect profile, particularly during long-term administration. For example, the administration of synthetic androgens has been associated with liver damage, prostate cancer, adverse effects on male sexual function and adverse effects associated with cardiovascular and erythropoietic function.
Numerous synthetically-derived steroidal and non-steroidal agonists and antagonists have been described for the members of the SB-NHR family. Many of these agonist and antagonist ligands are used clinically in man to treat a variety of medical conditions. RU486 (mifepristone) is an example of a synthetic antagonist of the PR, which is utilized as a birth control agent (Vegeto et al., Cell 69: 703-713 (1992)). Flutamide is an example of an antagonist of the AR, which is utilized for the treatment of prostate cancer (Neri et al, Endo. 91, 427-437 (1972)). Tamoxifen is an example of a tissue-selective modulator of the ER function, that is used in the treatment of breast cancer (Smigel J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 90, 647-648 (1998)). Tamoxifen can function as an antagonist of the ER in breast tissue while acting as an agonist of the ER in bone (Grese et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94, 14105-14110 (1997)). Because of the tissue-selective effects seen for Tamoxifen, this agent, and agents like it, are referred to as tissue-selective estrogen receptor modulators. In addition to synthetically-derived non-endogenous ligands, non-endogenous ligands for NHR's can be obtained from food sources (Regal et al., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 223, 372-378 (2000) and Hempstock et al., J. Med. Food 2, 267-269 (1999)). The flavanoid phytoestrogens are an example of an unnatural ligand for SB-NHR's that are readily obtained from a food source such as soy (Quella et al., J. Clin. Oncol. 18, 1068-1074 (2000) and Banz et al., J. Med. Food 2, 271-273 (1999)). The ability to modulate the transcriptional activity of an individual NHR by the addition of a small molecule ligand, makes these receptors ideal targets for the development of pharmaceutical agents for a variety of disease states.
As mentioned above, non-natural ligands can be synthetically engineered to serve as modulators of the function of NHR's. In the case of SB-NHR's, engineering of an unnatural ligand can include the identification of a core structure which mimics the natural steroid core system. This can be achieved by random screening against several SB-NHR's, or through directed approaches using the available crystal structures of a variety of NHR ligand binding domains (Bourguet et al., Nature 375, 377-382 (1995), Brzozowski, et al., Nature 389, 753-758 (1997), Shiau et al., Cell 95, 927-937 (1998) and Tanenbaum et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 5998-6003 (1998)). Differential substitution about such a steroid mimic core can provide agents with selectivity for one receptor versus another. In addition, such modifications can be employed to obtain agents with agonist or antagonist activity for a particular SB-NHR. Differential substitution about the steroid mimic core can result in the formation of a series of high affinity agonists and antagonists with specificity for, for example, ER versus PR versus AR versus GR versus MR. Such an approach of differential substitution has been reported, for example, for quinoline based modulators of steroid NHR in J. Med Chem., 41, 623 (1998); WO 9749709; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,696,133; 5,696,130; 5,696,127; 5,693,647; 5,693,646; 5,688,810; 5,688,808 and WO 9619458, all incorporated herein by reference.
Accordingly, identification of compounds which have good specificity for one or more steroid receptors, but which have reduced or no cross-reactivity for other steroid or intracellular receptors, would be of significant value in the treatment of male and female hormone-responsive diseases. There is, therefore, a need in the art for the identification of selective modulators of the steroid binding nuclear hormone receptors, particularly non-steroidal, non-toxic tissue selective androgen receptor modulators, which activate the androgen receptor in skeletal muscle while demonstrating limited or neutral effect on other androgen responsive (e.g., prostate) tissues.